Chapter 20
The Green Mountain War When Goodyear signaled for the attack on Vermont, it was more of a finalization than an order. For months, Union spies had been scoping out the backwoods buffer state, readying for when the Consulate signaled for an invasion. Goodyear and the Union government had been sure that France would not accept their demands, and rather than have a war against the mightiest empire on earth, they decided that a quick, decisive, overwhelming invasion of Vermont would be the best strategy. The annoying buffer state between the Union and Canada was a French puppet, but if the Union Army occupied it before news could get to France, then Napoleon would likely just go along with it. Thus, the Republican Union flexed its military muscles for the first time. The Southron republics had done it in the Dissolution of Spain, so now the Union would do it in the Subjugation of Vermont. The Consuls prepared everything in advance, and even had men ready to be "military mayors" of all the important Vermont towns. On October 1st, 1832, 30,000 Union soldiers crossed the border under the command of General James Polk and trampled the Vermont military. By the passing of one month, the entire Green Mountain Republican Army had been defeated, but militias still were holding out and fighting back. The militias adopted a skull-and-crossed-bones flag as the symbol of the resistance and practiced brutal torture and murder against all captured Union soldiers, usually leaving their bodies hanging on trees upside-down or impaled on sharpened logs. Polk reported back to Philadelphia in a message that, "The hill-willies here practice the Black Flag Doctrine very well. They, despite their ignorance on all other matters, know that injecting fear and terror into their enemies is the best way to win a conflict. I dare say that I may instruct my own men to do the same if we aim to finish this affair before the Corsican Ogre pushes his meddling nose into this." Polk did indeed counter their heinous acts with his own, and the Union soldiers started arresting "hill-willies" (as they had begun to call any citizens of North America north of the R.U. border) at random and then, equally at random, shooting them upon massacres of Union troops. Until January, 1833, it was massacre after massacre. Finally, though, the main resistance leaders were captured and shot and the Green Mountain Republic of Vermont was officially proclaimed an R.U. Military Territory. Any and all groups or organizations pushing for Vermont independence were proclaimed outlaws. The flying of the old green-white-and-blue flag was forbidden, and anyone flying or possessing the skull-and-bones banner in any form was to be executed immediately as an enemy of the Union. By the time news reached Europe, it was too late to do anything aside from France invading the Union, and most everyone knew that that would be preposterous. Caesar did, however, warn the Union that France would immediately retaliate against any violation of Canadian sovereignty. It was not long before the remnants of the militias ran to cover to reestablish themselves. "Skull-and-Bones" became a huge organization dedicated to fighting the occupation with everything they had. As Polk presided over Vermont as military governor, he had no idea that the group would prove to be a major headache for decades to come. Whenever the questions of statehood were brought up, the region always blew up again, making Vermont technically a dictatorship within the Union itself. All in all, historians have rated the Union's performance in the invasion fairly well, saying that they had clearly outlined objectives and were determined to fulfill them. However, the loss of life during and even after the conquest was horrible, with some 9,000 Union casualties and 29,000 Vermont casualties by 1850. Many have said that the Union deliberately fudged the numbers of the dead Vermonters and that backwoods massacres might make the number closer to 40,000. Category:Main Timeline